OOC COMPANION

✦ About This Companion

This companion contains the out-of-character information required to participate in sorcery roleplay on the server. Unlike the Grimoires and Archives, nothing within this volume represents knowledge automatically available to characters. It explains how magical progression, consent, research, staff approval and the use of in-game sorcery are handled between players.

The system is designed to support collaborative roleplay rather than provide automatic advantages. Magical knowledge develops through scenes, investigation, experimentation and interaction with others. Characters may specialise in different Schools, create original workings and contribute to the Circle’s archives without being limited to a fixed list of spells.

◇ IC and OOC Information

The Grimoires explain how the Circle understands sorcery in character. The Archives preserve examples of rituals, sigils, hexes, enchantments and unusual discoveries. They are setting documents intended to inspire roleplay.

This companion explains the rules surrounding that roleplay. Reading an IC book does not automatically grant a character its knowledge, and possessing access to an in-game spell does not necessarily mean the character has mastered it within the story. Character knowledge, player knowledge and game mechanics remain separate unless established through roleplay.

Grimoires and Archives: IC lore and inspiration.
OOC Companion: rules, procedures and expectations.

✧ What the System Is For

Sorcery is intended to create stories: dangerous research, difficult choices, failed experiments, rivalries, discoveries, bargains and consequences. It is not a shortcut for winning scenes, bypassing another player’s agency or claiming abilities that have not been established.

The guidelines that follow exist to keep magical roleplay accessible, consistent and collaborative while leaving enough freedom for players to develop their own traditions, rituals and interpretations.

✦ Who May Apply

Any established character may pursue sorcery when the concept supports meaningful long-term roleplay. Previous magical experience is not required. Characters may begin as complete outsiders, self-taught dabblers, former assistants, failed apprentices, occult scholars or individuals whose first encounter with sorcery occurs during play.

Characters who already possess a substantial magical background may also apply, but prior history does not automatically grant advanced rank, unrestricted abilities or mastery of a School. Existing experience will be considered when deciding where the character enters the progression.

◇ What the Application Considers

The application exists to understand the character and create suitable entry roleplay. It is not a lore examination. Staff will primarily consider the character’s reasons for pursuing sorcery, the stories their concept could generate and whether their goals fit the collaborative nature of the system.

Applicants may be asked about previous or current connections to sorcery, motivations beyond gaining power and any existing sorcerer contacts who can help establish the character’s history. These questions allow staff to distinguish unexplored potential from abilities already being claimed.

✧ Common Application Questions

What previous or current connections does the character have to sorcery?

This may include teachers, relatives, employers, cults, ruins, artefacts, unusual incidents or brief encounters. Having no previous connection is also a valid answer.

Why does the character wish to pursue sorcery?

The answer should offer more than a desire for power or a history of already being a sorcerer. Curiosity, fear, necessity, obsession, faith, ambition, grief, survival and the search for understanding can all create stronger foundations for future scenes.

Are there existing characters who can confirm or support this history?

Relevant contacts may be checked when an application relies upon shared backstory or previous instruction. This prevents accidental contradictions and gives staff opportunities to connect the applicant with existing roleplay.

◐ Starting Knowledge

Acceptance into the system does not mean the character immediately understands every School, ritual or concept contained within the library. Starting knowledge should reflect what has been established in the character’s application and previous roleplay.

A character may know fragments, rumours, inherited customs or one narrow practice without understanding the larger structure of sorcery. Uncertainty is encouraged. Gaps in knowledge create opportunities for investigation, mistakes, competing interpretations and interaction with teachers or other apprentices.

⟡ Choosing a School

Characters are not required to arrive with a final specialisation. Early progression may involve exposure to several Schools before the character develops a clear area of interest. Their eventual choice may emerge through research, personal aptitude, relationships or events encountered during roleplay.

A primary School represents the character’s strongest field of study rather than the only form of sorcery they may ever encounter. Cross-disciplinary research is possible when supported by progression and roleplay, though breadth does not replace the depth required for mastery.

✦ Faith and Sorcery

Sorcerer characters must maintain a recognised relationship with a god or religious tradition. This does not require priesthood, unquestioning devotion or agreement with every teaching associated with that faith. The relationship may involve worship, fear, obligation, inherited practice, bargaining or personal interpretation.

Faith does not determine a character’s School and does not automatically grant magical abilities. It forms part of the character’s worldview and provides an established spiritual context for their engagement with sorcery.

✧ Acceptance and Entry Roleplay

Accepted characters begin outside the Circle as candidates unless another entry point has been explicitly approved. Their introduction may involve investigation, observation, contact with an existing member or an invitation earned through roleplay.

Formal acceptance into the Circle occurs in character. During this transition, the candidate receives a chosen Circle name and begins participating under the customs of the organisation. Personal identities remain separate from the names used within the Circle.

Approval opens the path.
Progression still happens through roleplay.

◇ Revision and Reapplication

An application may be returned for revision when the concept requires clarification, claims knowledge beyond what the system supports or lacks a clear foundation for future roleplay. This is not necessarily a permanent rejection.

Staff may suggest adjusting the character’s starting experience, refining their motivation or establishing the missing elements through ordinary roleplay before applying again. Characters are not expected to begin perfectly prepared; they only need a concept capable of developing within the system.

✦ Lessons

Lessons introduce philosophical concepts, practical demonstrations and opportunities for discussion. They are intended to create roleplay rather than deliver every answer immediately. Questions, disagreement and experimentation are encouraged throughout the learning process.

Attendance alone does not represent mastery. Characters are expected to build upon what they learn through practice, research and continued interaction with others.

◇ Practice

Practical exercises allow characters to apply newly acquired knowledge within roleplay. Success, failure and unexpected results are all valuable outcomes. Failed attempts frequently create more interesting stories than immediate success and often become opportunities for later research.

Practice may take place individually, with mentors or alongside other apprentices depending upon the nature of the exercise.

◐ Research

Not every discovery comes from formal teaching. Characters are encouraged to investigate forgotten ruins, unusual artefacts, ancient languages, abandoned libraries, mysterious locations and other sources of magical knowledge. Independent research is an important part of progression and often produces entirely new roleplay opportunities.

Original ideas are welcomed provided they remain consistent with the philosophy of the relevant School and are discussed with staff when necessary.

✧ Learning Tasks

Characters may receive practical assignments between lessons. These tasks exist to encourage roleplay rather than measure activity. They may involve observation, experimentation, gathering unusual materials, translating forgotten texts, interviewing other characters or solving problems through magical reasoning.

There is rarely a single correct solution. Creativity, initiative and thoughtful roleplay are valued more highly than completing tasks as quickly as possible.

⟡ Mentors

Mentors guide progression rather than dictate it. Any qualified mentor may continue a lesson begun by another, allowing knowledge to remain available even when individual players are absent. This shared responsibility reflects the Circle's philosophy that knowledge belongs to the archive rather than to a single teacher.

Mentors may disagree with one another. Differences of opinion are not treated as mistakes but as opportunities for characters to compare traditions and develop their own understanding.

✦ Developing a Specialisation

As characters progress, they naturally begin focusing upon the School that best suits their interests, beliefs and experiences. This specialisation develops through repeated roleplay rather than a single administrative decision.

Learning outside a primary School remains possible, though deeper understanding requires continued study and appropriate roleplay.

✧ Progress Never Ends

Completing lessons does not represent the end of a character's magical journey. New rituals, forgotten traditions, original research and unexpected discoveries continue to expand the Circle's knowledge long after formal instruction has ended.

Progression measures the story of learning, not the accumulation of power.

✦ Player Agency

Every player remains responsible for their own character. Magical roleplay should create opportunities for interaction rather than remove another player's ability to participate in the story. If a scene relies upon significant magical influence, discuss expectations beforehand whenever possible.

◇ Communication

If a magical scene may affect another character in a meaningful way, communicate OOCly. Most misunderstandings are resolved quickly through a short conversation before the roleplay begins.

✧ The Goal

The best magical scenes leave everyone with more roleplay than they started with. Winning an interaction is less important than creating memorable stories together.

✦ Original Ideas

Before introducing a new magical working, ask whether it belongs naturally within one of the existing Schools. New ideas should complement the philosophy already established rather than replace or contradict it.

◇ Research Roleplay

Original workings should emerge through roleplay whenever possible. Experiments, forgotten manuscripts, collaboration with other sorcerers and field research all provide opportunities to introduce new magical discoveries naturally.

✧ Research Tickets

Every sorcerer has access to a dedicated research ticket where they may ask questions, discuss ideas, propose original workings and seek guidance at any point during their progression. These tickets exist to encourage creativity rather than restrict it, allowing players to develop their own magical traditions with staff support whenever needed.

If a ritual, enchantment, hex or other magical working is intended to create lasting consequences, introduce significant effects or become part of the wider setting, submit the relevant roleplay through the ticket using screenshots or a summary of the scene. This allows staff to review the outcome, preserve continuity and, where appropriate, add the discovery to the Circle's archives.

✧ Lasting Consequences

When a ritual, hex, enchantment or other magical working is intended to create lasting consequences for another character, the roleplay should be submitted through the player's research ticket together with screenshots or a summary of the relevant scenes. This allows staff to review the roleplay, maintain continuity and ensure that all parties share the same understanding of the outcome.

Where another player's character is directly affected, their consent should also be confirmed within the ticket before the consequence becomes part of the ongoing story. This protects player agency while allowing meaningful long-term magical roleplay to develop collaboratively.

✦ Visual Representation

Whenever possible, choose the vanilla spell whose animation or appearance best represents the scene being roleplayed. The visual effect exists to support the roleplay, even if the character describes the magical working differently.

◇ Mechanics and Lore

Game mechanics do not automatically define what happens in character. Likewise, characters may perform rituals, enchantments and other magical workings that have no direct vanilla equivalent. The roleplay determines the story; the game provides convenient tools to represent it.

✧ Roleplay First

When the visual effect and the roleplay differ, the agreed roleplay takes precedence. Players are encouraged to describe their magic in ways that fit their School, traditions and personal style while using vanilla mechanics as supporting visuals whenever appropriate.

✦ Names and Anonymity

Members use chosen Circle names and robes during gatherings and internal affairs. Outside identities, titles, ranks and affiliations are left beyond the meeting space unless a member chooses to reveal them.

This anonymity is intended to reduce favouritism and prevent outside friendships, rivalries or political loyalties from controlling decisions within the Circle.

◇ Gatherings

Ceremonial robes or clothing are worn during formal gatherings to minimise visible differences in wealth, status and allegiance. Discussion and disagreement are encouraged, provided they remain focused upon knowledge, evidence and the matter before the Circle.

Mentors do not rule the Circle. Their rank reflects responsibility, experience and trust within the organisation rather than authority over every other member.

✧ Considering New Seekers

New seekers are considered collectively by existing members. The Circle may meet to discuss a candidate’s conduct, motivations, interactions and suitability before deciding whether they should be invited to become a practitioner.

This is not intended to function as a popularity vote. Members are expected to base their observations upon roleplay and the candidate’s demonstrated behaviour rather than OOC friendship, dislike or reputation.

◐ The Laws of the Circle

The Circle’s Laws will be provided in character through its meeting space and news board. They form part of the organisation’s roleplay and explain the expectations placed upon members concerning secrecy, neutrality, knowledge, responsibility and conduct.

Players are not expected to memorise them before joining, but should understand that membership includes accepting an established set of in-character customs and obligations.

✧ Membership Is Not Permanent

The Circle represents one path into sorcery, not a lifelong obligation. Characters may leave, reject its philosophy, continue independently or eventually become enemies of the organisation when their story develops in that direction.

Leaving the Circle does not erase what a character has learned, though betrayal, exposure of protected identities or misuse of hidden knowledge may create in-character consequences.

The Circle exists to create stories.
It does not own the characters within them.

✦ Existing Sorcerers

Characters who already possess established sorcery are not required to abandon their history, change their origin or join the Circle. Existing magical traditions, mentors, patrons, religions and personal journeys remain valid.

Those who choose to become involved with the Circle may discuss any necessary adjustments with staff so their established story fits comfortably alongside the shared system. These conversations are intended to preserve the character rather than rewrite them.

◇ New Sorcerers

Characters beginning their magical journey under the current system will normally enter through the Circle. This provides them with access to lessons, research opportunities, other practitioners and a structured path into sorcery.

The Circle is only their starting point. Characters may later leave, continue independently, reject its philosophy or pursue a very different magical path as their roleplay develops.

✧ Participation

The Circle exists to connect sorcerers and create shared roleplay. It is not intended to replace every magical tradition on the server or force all practitioners into a single organisation.

Existing stories remain intact.
New stories are given somewhere to begin.